It's all about timing
by jill3001
Summary: Multi-part story starting with how I thought the kiss scene should have gone down. Sometimes timing makes all the difference! Also please read my notes in the chapters about how you can show your support for Emily Owens!
1. Blind-Sided

**This story starts at the kiss scene and what might of happened if the timeline of events had gone a little differently  
**

**-Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Emily Owens, this is purely a work of appreciation and also as a fan of a great show. RIP.-  
**

Emily stood outside the bar staring up at the winter stars. She let out a huge sigh, her breath misting in the chill air. This day had been so unpredictable and the one thing she wished for in the world was that she could have done _something _to prevent Chloe's amputation.

She swallowed and choked back a few tears. This would be a hard one to get over and if Micah hadn't come out to check on her when he did she knew that she would _still_ be second guessing herself even more than she already was.

But he was right . . . sometimes things just happen in unexpected ways and no matter what, you still can't prepare for them.

Talking about being surprised, she laughed thinking about how Tyra had conveniently talked herself into staying at her apartment. Tyra was such a good friend to her, but she wasn't sure how she felt about her suddenly barging in on her carefully planned-out routine.

Who was she kidding, it was chaos is what it was! But she cared too much about her friend and actually really wanted to help her grow up and prove to her father that she was ready to be taken seriously. Tyra was right in taking this next step and Emily was proud of her to be doing it.

"It's only for a little while," she quietly said out loud to herself.

"Talking to yourself, Dr. Owens? You know what they say . . ."

Jumping only slightly, Emily smiled. She hadn't heard him walk up.

"Doctah Owens? I think you have me mixed up with some other gal." Emily said with a Wisconsin twang. "The name's Tammy or have ya forgot?"

"Oh, my apologies Tammy." Micah replied in the same accent. "We bankers have short memories, dontcha know." She heard him chuckle softly behind her.

Emily chuckled herself, getting into their fun role-play. "Oh dats okay, we've only just met . . . _Bob the Banker_"

Micah grinned at the similar words he'd said to her only a few short months ago. "Oh ya. So what brings you out here Tammy?" She heard the smile in his voice and felt him move closer behind her almost touching the back of her coat.

Emily dropped the accent still not turning around, content just to have him stand near her.

"Oh you know me just having a little existential crisis."

Micah waited for her to continue.

"And, well," she paused slightly laughing a little, "overthinking things as usual."

"Emily . . ." Micah said in his normal deep voice, clearly concerned about her.

She turned and looked him in the eye. "You know what though? I meant what I said earlier today, and I just wanted to thank you again for clearing my head. This world really is just . . . chaotic and you helped me realize that I can't predict or control everything, and that's something that I'm working on. So, thank you."

Micah just gazed at her speaking more with his eyes than he had ever told her before in words. A slow smile spread across his face. "You're welcome."

Emily gazed back for a moment. Suddenly feeling uncomfortable she lowered her eyes and shifted her feet.

_Why am I feeling so awkward? It's Micah for crying out loud. He's usually the one you never feel awkward around. Breathe, Emily breathe. Think of something funny to say!_

"So, Bobbie-Oh . . . hehe" Emily joked around back in her accent.

Micah raised his eyebrows at her, laughter dancing in his eyes.

_Wait, definitely overkill, lose the accent Emily . . . change the subject . . .again - why is this so awkward . . . wait didn't he have a question for you?_

Reverting to her normal voice _again _Emily just laughed it off.

"Sorry, I mean Micah, you had a non-hospital related question for me?"

Micah smiled, taking a small step towards her, closing the distance between them. Emily felt her heart catch in her throat at the sudden proximity. She could feel the warmth coming off his body and couldn't bring herself to turn away from his gaze, simply just trapped in the moment.

Time stood still and though it had just been a few seconds, it felt like ages that they were standing together. Like all the world had gone away and it was just them. Just Micah and Emily.

Time stood still . . . until . . .

Tyra burst out of the bar, hopping on one foot. Micah took a quick step back and their sudden intimacy was broken.

Tyra was looking around frantically until her eyes fell on them. A relieved smile and shake of the head was all she managed before almost tripping and falling in the snow.

"Hey Emily I stubbed my toe, this stupid idiot pulled out his chair just as I was about to . . . whoa!" As Tyra stumbled again, this time looking like she was heading in the snow for sure this time, Emily raced over to steady her. Not realizing how icy it was, Emily started to slip and grabbed onto Tyra to steady herself - which of course sealed the deal. Tyra let out a loud shriek soon followed by Emily and suddenly they were both lying in the snow bank laughing hysterically.

Micah just looked on with an amused look. At first he had felt unbelievable frustration that yet again Tyra's timing had been uncanny. But he couldn't help but laugh himself at the two women in stitches in the snow. All he could do was roll his eyes at the heavens and mutter, "Unbelievable."

Finally when Tyra had calmed down enough, she gasped out. "Emily, let's get going roomie. I think this is a clear sign we should call it a night! Besides, we both have an early morning tomorrow. "

Emily struggled to hold back her laughter, a bemused look on her face. If she had looked behind her she would have seen a mix of pure astonishment and frustration on Micah's face.

"You have got to be kidding me . . ." he muttered again under his breath. Apparently he didn't mutter quietly enough this time.

"What was that, Micah?" Tyra asked pointedly.

"I said . . . I hope you two are alright. You have a long day of rounds tomorrow." He smiled sheepishly hoping he sounded somewhat concerned. (Well he was concerned about Emily so it was at least half the truth!)

"Right . . ." Tyra replied, though her expression let on that she didn't entirely believe him. "Well you can at least be a gentleman and help a _lady_ up."

"Ha! It's the least I can do . . . me lady." Carefully walking over so he didn't slip himself he graciously offered a hand to Tyra and quickly pulled her up. Once she was on her feet, he softly knelt down and offered his hand to Emily. When she was almost up she stumbled a little bit again and Micah's arm quickly went around her waist to steady her.

Emily quietly gasped at the contact, hoping Micah didn't notice. When he didn't react one way or the other, she breathed a little easier. She was still processing what had just happened only moments before and wasn't sure how to act around him. When she was steadied and he dropped his arm, she almost felt disappointed at the loss of contact.

_Scratch that Owens, you were definitely disappointed at the loss of contact. _

"Shut up stupid smart conscience," Emily mouthed to herself. This time Micah did look down at her clearly amused at her awkwardness.

Unlike Tyra, Emily _had_ heard what Micah had said earlier and decided not only did she want to find out what was going on with him; she really didn't feel like going back to her apartment with Tyra right now.

She faced her new roommate and decided to lay it out for her. "Well Tyra, I didn't realize that we would be starting tonight, tonight . . . but since we are and I whole heartedly approve of you moving up in the world . . ."

"Hear, hear!" Tyra chimed in.

"Why don't you take this spare key to my apartment, and I'll catch up with you right away?"

Tyra looked back and forth between Micah and Emily . . . and then Emily and Micah. Suddenly clueing in (for once) that they were in the middle of something, she decided she better mosey along. Except for one thing . . .

"Sure Ems . . . that wouldn't be a problem except for the fact I don't own my own vehicle . . . YET." She emphasized on the "yet".

Emily's face scrunched up thinking . . . she didn't really want anyone else (let alone Tyra) driving her car, but under the circumstances . . . "Well I'd let you take my car too except I'm not sure if I can get a r - "

"I can drive you home Emily, it's no problem." Micah chipped in. Emily smiled over at him gratefully. Again, normally she'd be calling it a night herself, but she felt that he had something really important he was on the verge of telling her. Not to mention the tingles she still felt when he had only been standing two inches away from her.

"Well all right then!" Tyra chirped excitedly. "We should have become roommates sooner if I'd known there'd be all these perks!"

"Hey, hey now." Emily laughed. "Don't get too excited, this is just temporary until you find your own place."

"Yes, yes of course. I'm a woman on a mission!" Tyra squealed as she grabbed the keys from Emily's outstretched hand running towards her car, at the same time amazingly forgetting the pain of her supposed stubbed toe. Right before she got into the driver's side she turned around and yelled, "We will be talking about this later, Owens! You know, what I'm talking about!" With that she jumped into the car and started the ignition.

Emily grimaced as Tyra pushed down a little too hard on the acceleration and roared down the street.

_Relax Emily, remember this is temporary. You can deal with temporary; patience is your thing remember? At least in most situations . . ._

Micah came up behind her again. "Hey there, lost in another existential crisis?"

She turned and smiled up at him coyly. "Maybe just a small one. I just keep telling myself that patience is a virtue and some situations are only temporary."

"You mean Tyra?"

Emily nodded.

"Amen to that!"

Emily laughed with him. "Well it's the least I can do, she's been such a great friend to me. Remember when I told you what I wrote on Dr. Bandari's evaluation?"

Micah nodded.

"Well no one had mentioned to me that Dr. Bandari personally reads the feedback, so Tyra helped me dodge a bullet and got my evaluation back for me. So see? She's not just the annoying friend who bursts in on me every chance she gets."

Micah just burst out laughing which caused Emily to immediately be caught up in his hilarity. She couldn't remember a night she had laughed so much. It _was_ pretty funny, Tyra did have a habit of interrupting her and Micah. Suddenly something clicked at the back of her mind. This wasn't the first time Micah had wanted to ask her something! Thinking back to the night of the benefit for Dr. Bandari she realized that was it. She finally had to know what was going on.

Micah was still letting out a few more laughs, so she couldn't help but laugh a few more times herself. Eventually she started to say, "So again, what was it you were going to ask - ?"

Before she could finish her sentence Micah was there again only inches away from her. This time there was no pause or hesitation and all of the mirth had left his face. Suddenly Emily knew what was about to happen. She could barely breathe as he gently caressed her face and brought his lips softly against hers. Even though she slightly expected it this time, it was still a shock to her system. The feel of his lips, his hand on her cheek . . . she started to feel weak in the knees and had to wrap her arms around his neck to steady herself . . . and felt herself deepen the kiss.

When Micah felt her respond back to him, he let out a low moan and lightly traced her bottom lip with his tongue while wrapping his arms around her waist. She gave a small sigh of her own and slightly opened her mouth and tentatively darted out her tongue to meet his. The contact was instantly electric. It was too much for Emily, she pulled away gasping.

"Wow . . ." she breathed.

Breathing heavily himself, Micah still had his eyes slightly closed, but he quickly opened them, searching her face.

"Emily . . . what's going through your head?"

"I . . ."

Again the bar door opened revealing a flustered and upset looking Will. This time it was Emily who stepped away from Micah.

"He looked over and saw her, "Emily! You won't believe what just happened. Cassandra just broke up with me, she's in there like a crazy person not listening to reason, can you believe that?"

Emily just stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights. "Will, I'm so sorry . . . "

Will just shook his head throwing his hands up in the air, "Sorry, well don't worry about it, it's not your fault. I mean you were right, I'm finally seeing Cassandra for how she really is. I should have seen this coming. Listen, I could really use some company, could we go back to your place and talk?"

Emily took a deep breath before answering. Seriously what was going on here? Had she entered the twilight zone?

"Um Will . . . Tyra's there, she elected herself as my new roomie. I really want to be there for you, but maybe we can talk about this some more tomorrow?" Emily looked around for Micah, and realized he had walked closer to the bar, giving her and Will some space. He was looking down at the ground, his hands in his pockets.

Will looked confused for a moment . . . "Wait, Tyra's crashing at your place? In your tiny one bedroom apartment? Oh this I got to see: Emily Owens perfect organized apartment getting traumatized by the good Dr. Dupre. Classic."

They both had a good laugh about that and Emily looked up again and Micah was no longer standing by the door.

_Get it together Emily, you need to sort things out with Micah . . . why did Will have to break up with Cassandra now? Blind-sided does not even remotely do this night justice!_

Will quickly brought her out of her thoughts, "Hey, let me at least walk you to your car, Owens. Where is it, by the way?"

"Tyra took it," Emily absentmindedly said, still searching for Micah.

"How are you getting home then?"

"Oh . . . Micah's driving me."

Will smiled and chuckled. "Hey no worries, I can give you a ride. Besides it'll give me a chance to vent my Cassandra frustrations."

Emily was starting to get really worried about where Micah had went, she didn't want to give him the wrong idea, and she needed to talk to him so she could work out these crazy feelings that were swirling around inside her.

"Sorry, Will. Micah and I have some serious stuff we need to talk about as well . . . but I promise we'll catch up tomorrow, we can talk up on the roof before our shift?"

Will's face went blank. "Emily . . . what kind of stuff do you need to talk about with _Doctor_ Barnes."

Emily was starting to get annoyed. "None of your business, Will. And I definitely don't like what you're insinuating," she said icily. She actually shocked herself with how much venom she answered him with. This was Will, the man who only a few days ago she'd been in love with!

Will genuinely looked hurt at her words, and she felt even guiltier.

"I thought we were friends, Emily. Since when is something none of my business? And I'm not insinuating anything, you're the one who's acting so defensive!"

Emily almost had tears in her eyes, how could this day go from her and Will finally being in a really good place with their friendship, to almost shouting at each other?

"Defensive, I'm being defensive? I don't need to explain or defend myself to you Will. Not anymore." Tears were actually starting to form for real this time, right at the corners of her eyes.

_Why is this such a painful conversation with my best friend who I thought I could talk about everything with?_ _How can I not be in love with someone anymore - that I had been ready to wait for, however long it took? Why am I not jumping for joy that Will and Cassandra are broken up? Will is acting like a jealous boyfriend and confusing me even more. And where the heck is Micah!?_

Will started getting red in the face and began to raise his voice. "I can't believe this. You know what? Cassandra gave me an ultimatum in there. It was either her or you and I could not be put in that position because I wasn't ready to give up our friendship. Four years, Emily. Four years we've been _best friends_ and you can't even be honest with me about why you suddenly need a car ride from Dr. Barnes over me? Don't you at least owe me that?"

Emily was openly crying now. Her heart felt like it was breaking. "Will . . . I do want to be honest with you right now. The thing is, I don't know what my feelings are yet, that's why I need to talk to Micah! Please can you just let me sort this out and we can talk about it as friends tomorrow?" She started letting out small sobs as tears rolled down her face.

Will immediately lost all the anger out of his voice as he wrapped his arms around Emily's sobbing body. "Ems . . . I'm sorry. But we've had so much history, and you've known Micah for what . . . a few months? Don't you owe it to our friendship to be there for me and talk to him later?"

Emily hugged him back, but only briefly. She was a wreck right now and all she could think about was what Micah was going through not knowing how she felt, plus having the man she had been in love with for four years suddenly bursting in on them. She just needed to get some distance from Will.

"Will I'm sorry . . ." she whispered. And she couldn't even look up to see the pain etched into his chiselled features. He tried to reach for her again, but this time she pushed him away.

"Emily!" She turned suddenly at the sound of her name and a car horn. Micah had gone to get his car and had pulled up in front.

She finally had the courage to look up at Will, and all the memories they'd shared together started flashing through her mind.

The first time she saw Will.

Their first late night study session.

The first pangs of jealousy when Will dated someone else.

The phone message he left her, making her hope for once that he had feelings for her.

Then . . . the rejection, and the constant rejection felt as he dated her most hated person, her arch nemesis, the one who had completely made her feel worthless and awkward . . . Cassandra Kopelson.

Suddenly all her sympathy just vanished. Will had his chance, and he had just hurt her one too many times.

"Will, I do value our friendship, but if you value ours, you'll understand that I have to do this."

Now Will was almost crying. "Emily, please . . ."

"I'm sorry Will."

And with those three little words uttered for the third time, she turned her back and ran up to the waiting passenger door of Micah's car.

"Are you all right?" Micah said before examining her a little closer. "Sorry, stupid question."

Emily dabbed at her eyes with a tissue and gave a sad smile.

"It's okay. I'm not right now, but I will be." And with that she reached out her hand and rested it on Micah's thigh. His hand quickly covered hers. And with that he zoomed away from the curb. The one thing they couldn't see was a heartbroken Will who was now feeling even worse than when Cassandra broke up with him. And he still didn't know why.

Micah was silent for the first little bit. He knew Emily had to be going through a lot right now.

"Are you alright to go back to your apartment?" He hesitantly asked a few minutes later.

Emily shook her head. "Not really at the top of my list of things I want to do right now."

"Ah." Micah was silent a few moments more. He knew what he wanted to say, but wasn't sure how to _not_ make it come across the wrong way. Luckily Emily beat him to it.

"Micah?"

"Mm?"

"Please don't get the wrong idea, because I'm not that kind of girl . . . but could we maybe go to your place? Just to talk, I mean," she quickly added her cheeks going bright pink.

Micah gave her hand a squeeze, chuckling to himself at her quick embarrassment.

"Of course, Emily." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "And I want you to know that I'm not that kind of guy either. I wanted to ask you out tonight because I really care about you, if you hadn't gathered that already. I just wasn't sure how to tell you . . ."

Emily grinned from ear to ear. "Well I'm glad you did . . . tell me that is."

Micah smiled back at her, "Me too."

They both lapsed into a comfortable silence lost in their own thoughts.

Soon enough they reached Micah's apartment and suddenly Emily felt extremely nervous like she wasn't prepared at all for being alone with Micah. But she needed to get a few things off her chest . . . she owed at least that much to him.

_Here goes nothing. It's time to take a leap Emily._

Micah looked back at her with a mischievous smile on his face. She realized she was still standing on the sidewalk and he was almost to the front door.

"Come now, Owens, I don't scare you that much, do I?"

Putting her slightly more at ease only the way that Micah could, Emily swallowed her fear and followed Micah inside the front door of his apartment building.

**Thanks everyone! Also constructive criticism is greatly appreciated with flow, grammer and also the tenses that I use. **

******IMPORTANT CALLING ALL FANS***  
**

**If you want to help in the fight to at least make a public statement to the CW on why they shouldn't have cancelled this amazing show please go their website . At the bottom in the "About" section there is a link for feedback. Click on that and give the CW a piece of your mind!  
**

**UPDATE: Last time I clicked, it went to a page that said "Sorry that page is unavailable" I'm going to keep checking back so please don't be discouraged if this pops up! It might mean that enough people are complaining that the CW temporarily closed that page. Also there are a few online petitions floating around (just google Emily Owens petition) and you don't need to donate, just fill out the first part and your ballot will count.  
**

*****Another update on sending feedback to the CW*****

**I saw on the Emily Owens Facebook page that you can call the CW directly and leave feedback? The number I saw was 818-977-2500. **

**Also I can't directly type their feedback email address because FF won't let you post links, so I have to write it like this: feedback at CWTV dot com **

**Obviously no spaces and use a period instead of the word dot and an "at sign" instead of "at"  
**

******If you can please email or leave a message by phone that you want Emily Owens to continue, I think that's about the only way we can make a difference to keeping this show!**  



	2. Aftermath

**Author's note: **

**I think parts of this chapter flow a lot better than my last one, but as always I want to continue on improving my writing so all feedback is appreciated! Thanks.**

Emily sat at the edge of Micah's huge chesterfield. It was one of those couches you could just lean back and fall asleep in for hours. However, Emily could not get herself to relax. Her body was uptight and on edge because she had to give Micah two pieces of information. One he was going to like . . . and one he was probably going to argue with her about.

She had been telling the truth when she said she was happy he'd told her his feelings. If he hadn't, she never would have experienced this amazing feeling of finally being chosen. But reality was sinking in, and the rational side of her was fighting with her heart.

Micah was in the kitchen boiling water for a pot of tea. He's been so sweet when they'd first got into his apartment, clearly picking up on her nerves. She thought back to those first few moments in the apartment . . .

* * *

Emily had just taken in the surroundings of his living room not really focusing on any one thing. Her eyes did rest on a set of photos. One was of Micah and his mom. It looked like his graduation from Medical School. Joyce looked so healthy and happy for her son, it made Emily realize even more how much they loved each other.

Another was of a family vacation to Disneyland from when Micah was younger. She noticed that there was another young girl in the picture, probably his sister, she guessed. They were both wearing big grins and Mickey Mouse ears.

Somehow while she was lost in thought Micah had taken her coat, and hung it up in the closet. Bringing her out of her thoughts, Micah gently took her by the hand and led her to the couch.

"Sit down and make yourself at home Tammy, you're making me nervous, " he said again in his Bob accent. She did as he asked but Micah still held onto her hand a few seconds longer while rubbing small circles onto the back of it with his thumb. She shivered involuntarily. Micah smiled and let go of her hand.

"Would you like some tea, and then we can talk?"

Emily looked up at him gratefully. She still had to think of how she was going to say what she needed to tell him.

"That sounds great, Micah."

"Okay, one Emily special, coming right up. Green tea, one Splenda, right?"

_Oh God, he even knows what kind of tea you drink! And that you like Splenda over sugar!_

She swallowed and gave a small nervous laugh.

"You got it."

"Great," Micah replied, his smile again warming her heart. He turned and walked into the kitchen humming a little tune to himself.

* * *

Which leads us up to the present moment where Emily was trying not to hyperventilate.

_Breathe, just breathe Emily. Funny, that's advice that Micah gave me once . . . I can't remember when. What if you're wrong . . . what if this can work and you're throwing away something great? But what if you lose Micah as a friend . . . and even worse jeopardize the career you've worked so hard for? I mean come on, Bandari had you as "undesirable number one" on her hit list, and by some miracle you just happened to have the skill set she was looking for. Wait, don't be so hard on yourself. You've worked for this, you deserve this. Finally people are realizing how great you are . . . like Will didn't . . . but Micah is. How am I ever going to explain this to him!_

Suddenly Emily felt gentle pressure next to her on the couch as Micah sat down beside her. Thankfully he didn't sit down _right_ next to her, but a couple of feet over. Emily let out a sigh of relief. At least she could keep some semblance of her wits about her without Micah induced tingles going up and down her spine!

Micah set down two sets of tea cups and saucers on the coffee table in front of them and Emily quickly picked her cup up going between sipping and blowing the hot tea. Finally she set down her cup and took a big breath. She had to do this. It was only fair to Micah and herself.

"Micah –"

"Emily." Micah quickly interrupted. "Now I know you have some big speech planned. I could literally hear the wheels turning in your head all the way from the kitchen."

"Really?" Emily nervously gasped. Then realizing her silliness they both started laughing.

"Like I was, saying, I know you have a lot you want to say and you need to lay it out in a methodical and logical approach. I just want you to hear me out before you say anything."

"But Micah, I just think that –"

"Buh buh buh! Please Emily, just hear me out and then I promise I will let you speak your piece, will you give me that chance at least?"

He picked up both of her hands in his and looked deep into her eyes with his soul-searching gaze.

_Dammit Emily, this is exactly what you didn't want to happen. How can anyone think when you have those things staring back at you! Losing resolve . . . just want to keep staring into eyes . . ._

Emily smiled back . . . "Mhmm."

Micah laughed again, gently dropping her hands back onto her lap.

"So first thing I wanted to get off my chest is . . . Will."

Emily's eyes went wide. "Micah I'm so sorry I just had to –"

"Emily, it's okay. Remember . . . my time now?" He looked thoughtful for a minute and then quickly decided to reach overtop of Emily which immediately induced those Micah chills she didn't want to have _just_ at that moment.

"What are you . . ." Emily started to say in a higher than normal voice.

"Patience, young grasshopper, I have an idea." He quickly grabbed something from a drawer in the side table, but took his time leaning back across Emily to his original spot. With a big grin on his face like he just discovered the biggest secret of all time he announced:

"Whoever holds the Aquaman pez dispenser, currently owns the podium! Capiche?"

Emily couldn't help it, she snorted. "Did I hear correctly that not only do you own a _pez dispenser_, but an actual _Aquaman pez dispenser_?"

Micah looked slightly offended. "Hey first of all I was eleven, and my dad got me really into comic books. And it happens to be a collector's edition. This might be worth hundreds of dollars some day!"

Emily just snorted again, but gave a small smile and relented.

"Alright, Barnes if that's the way you want to play the game. But I want to slightly adjust the rules here. First, we each take turns speaking about one thing. Also, at the end of talking we can ask one question which the other person can choose to answer. That way we each get our piece in without the other interrupting thereby giving us equal opportunity to make our point. Do we have an agreement good sir? Furthermore, you must shake my hand if you agree to these terms."

Micah's smile grew wider as Emily lay out the terms of their agreement. It wasn't exactly how he wanted to pour his heart out to her, but he did have some questions he needed to ask her, so this was a perfect opportunity to lay his cards out but also get some answers out of her as well.

He held out his hand. "Very well, my lady. I accept the terms of the agreement, but seeing as I am holding said Aquaman of power, I hereby invoke my right to go first."

Emily nodded with a curt shake of her head and quickly grasped his hand in a firm handshake . . . which she quickly released. She felt back in control. Having an organized methodical way of revealing her feelings definitely put her back in her comfort zone.

"Very well, I accept your addition to these proceedings. Please begin Sir Barnes."

Micah laughed, "Okay Emily, but can we drop the whole my lady/good sir act while we're actually talking?"

Emily smiled guiltily. "Oh, of course Micah. Sorry I was getting _a little _too caught up in it."

He reached for her hand and gave it a quick squeeze to reassure her. He made sure not too linger too long in case she started to get nervous again.

"It's okay. Now like I was saying, the first thing I want to talk about . . . is Will. I'm not going to lie, I felt extremely jealous when I saw you two together tonight. Also, I know you said you were over him, but things have suddenly changed now that he and Cassandra are broken up. I realize you value your friendship and I would never want to get between you and that. But I have to know . . . have your feelings for him come back? Are you not over him any longer?"

Micah passed over Aquaman trying not to let Emily see his hopeful yet scared eyes . . . but Emily just smiled as she held it in her hand. Surprisingly, this was the easiest thing she could tell him. Actually the person she couldn't imagine telling this was Will. And she might have to one day . . . if he ever did realize his feelings for her.

But this was Micah. Emily took his hand this time and looked him straight in the eye with not even a waver in her voice.

"When I said I was done with Will? I still feel that way. I thought when I heard Will and Cassandra were through that would change that but . . . I just felt sad for Will. It confuses the hell out of me, but no, I don't have feelings for Will _that_ way anymore. Micah . . . I want you to know I still want to be there for him as a friend, and thank you for respecting that."

It suddenly felt like a huge weight of dread was lifted off Micah's shoulders. His heartbeat started to speed up and all he wanted to do was reach across the couch and kiss the breath out of Emily until she couldn't even remember Will's name . . . but Emily wasn't done.

"Okay, now my turn to say something." She took a quick intake of air, her breathing picking up speed.

She started to speak a couple of times.

"What I want you to know is . . . I mean what I'm trying to say . . . I can't imagine . . ." She just kept trailing off. She looked up at Micah sheepishly.

"Sorry this is hard."

Micah just nodded encouragingly.

Emily gave a small smile then just decided to go for it.

"Okay . . . you know how dedicated I am to my career."

Micah shook his head yes. He felt a sudden sinking in his stomach. He hadn't even thought about how this would affect their work relationship, probably because he was so hung up on her past feelings for Will. Also his mother all but jammed down his throat there was no official rule saying that he and Emily couldn't date.

"Micah . . . I'm scared about what us being together means for how I'm seen as a doctor. I have worked my butt off all my life and finally - even though I swear she dislikes me - Dr. Bandari has recognized my talent above all my other peers. This is what I've worked for, and I know there's no cause to get me kicked out or anything severe like that but . . ."

Again she had to pause to try and control her breathing.

"How would you feel Micah? How would you feel if all of your fellow interns wondered if you got a particular case because your boss was looking out for you more than the others? Worse, they'll label me as someone who's willing to do anything, even sleep her way to the top if it will give her an advantage. "

Micah wanted to stop her and interject, but she was on too much of a roll.

"And finally, if I wanted a relationship with you, I wouldn't want to hide it. I wouldn't want it tainted by other people's ignorant opinions of why we're together. I can just imagine all the hospital gossip on how we got together, and how long we'll last. I want it to be just us Micah! I want to be together without this shadow of . . . inappropriateness. Do you want that for us? Do you think our relationship can handle that stress?"

Her hand shaking she passed the pez dispenser back to Micah, not able to look him in the eye.

Micah took it from her without a word. He was visibly shaken as well, and he felt a tear almost come to his eye.

Then he became angry. Just because the world was prejudiced, didn't mean that they didn't deserve happiness. He was going to fight for this, god dammit, whatever it took! He didn't give a crap what other people thought, to hell with them all!

Taking a few deep breaths to calm his anger down, he finally felt he could address her.

"Emily . . ." Micah said carefully.

"Yes?" She gasped. Too late she realized her fast breathing had actually caused her to start hyperventilating, she had gotten herself so worked up.

"Emily, breathe, just breathe honey. Come here." Micah slid close to her and lightly rested a hand on her back.

"In and out, that's right Emily. You got this. I've got you." Slowly Emily started taking deeper and deeper breaths, in rhythm with Micah's coaching.

Once she was breathing normally again she realized how close he was. This was another thing she was afraid of. Her physical reaction to the mere touch of Micah sent her senses reeling out of control. She had to stay strong. It was the only way she could keep herself from crossing that line.

When he was sure that she was completely calm Micah decided that enough was enough, he needed his final answers if they were ever going to have a chance.

"Emily, I have a few questions I want to ask you, and I want you to answer honestly."

She was about to protest when Micah held up the Aquaman pez dispenser he still held in his hand. Sighing, she finally relaxed back into the couch trying to steal herself against whatever Micah was about to ask her.

_I'll answer him honestly, but that doesn't mean I have to change my decision. Honest answer, strong resolve, honest answer, strong resolve, honest – _

"Emily . . . do you have feelings for me?"

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath Emily slowly nodded her head. Micah smiled.

"I'm happy to hear that. Because I have feelings for you too. Very strong ones."

Again Emily nodded, a tiny smile creeping onto her lips. She kept her eyes closed though.

"Also . . . did that kiss we shared feel as amazing to you as it did to me?"

At first Emily stayed still. She wanted to tell him of course it did, but she felt that the more they drew this out the harder it would be.

Micah tsked her like a naughty child. "Honest answers only please."

Slowly Emily opened her eyes forgetting how close Micah was sitting next to her.

She whispered softly . . . "Yes."

Micah swallowed hard and nodded.

"Good, just one final question and you're off the hook Owens."

"Okay," she breathed in.

_Wasn't he only supposed to get one question? Oh Emily you're in trouble now!_

Emily waited in anticipation and excitement as Micah slowly leaned towards her, cupping her face in his hands. His lips were just barely away from the surface of hers. He started to softly whisper to her, and she felt the warmth of his breath on her mouth.

"If it was just you and me . . . no hospital. No outside pressure. No career on the line."

"Yes?" Emily whispered. She felt a tingling start deep in her tummy that spread down below. Liquid fire was flowing through her veins and all she wanted was his touch to quench that flame . . . or make it spread.

Micah slowly brushed his lips over her left cheek and then whispered in her ear:

"If it was just you and me . . ."

Emily trembled as she felt his lips travel from her left side towards her right ear.

"Yeah . . ." she answered again breathily.

Emily's heart started to thud faster and faster. Her whole body felt like tiny fireworks just waiting to ignite. Just the sensation of Micah's lips on her earlobe and his breath in her ear, almost put her over the edge right there.

Finally Micah whispered, "If it's just us . . . what's stopping you from kissing me right now?"

Emily's mind went blank. It felt like she was trapped in a cocoon where it was all sensation with no sight or sound. She could feel him bring his lips closer to hers again . . . the breath from Micah's mouth gently caressing hers. All she had to do was close the gap.

_Screw it Emily, be selfish for once in your life. You can do this. You WANT this._

And with that she touched her lips to Micah's . . . gently, tentatively. With just that slight contact all her other senses came back to life. The smell of Micah's cologne. The taste of his lips. The small moan that was coming from his throat.

But Emily was moaning too. Wrapping her arms around Micah she crushed her lips even harder against his.

Micah growled with satisfaction as he brought Emily even closer to him. He ran his hands up and down her back and put all the passion, frustration and need into each new kiss he and Emily shared. He started to trail his lips down her neck and placed tender kisses along her collar bone.

Emily twined her fingers in his hair enjoying all the feelings Micah was awakening in her. Greedily she pulled his head back to her waiting lips just wanting to drink him up. Shifting her body, she swung her leg over Micah's lap so she was straddling him. Her hair had come undone and fell forward, forming a curtain around them as she passionately kissed him again and again.

_Okay Emily this is amazing but you need to process all of this . . . time to slow things down before you completely lose control!_

Suddenly breaking away from their passionate kiss she laughed huskily, resting her forehead against Micah's gasping for air. She noticed he was breathing heavily as well and just enjoyed the moment as she took it all in.

"I think you've made your point," she whispered to him.

Micah brushed his lips gently against hers and simply savored the feel of her body against his.

"Emily . . ." Micah sighed as he smoothed her hair back behind her ear. "I just want you to think about how great we are together. I just want you to give us a chance. I honestly don't care what other people think, but I also don't want to put you in any awkward position. I will do whatever it takes to fight for you . . . but you have to want to be in this too."

"Micah . . ." Emily gave a long pause before she leaned away from him and climbed off of his lap. She could feel his disappointment until she slid up beside him again. Leaning into him she placed her head on his shoulder. He smiled in relief and draped an arm around her shoulders hugging her closer.

They sat like that for another moment, until Emily began talking again.

"This whole night has been totally crazy . . . but in a good way with you."

Micah grinned as he squeezed her shoulder.

Emily continued. "You know me though. I just need to process everything to the nines. But please know that I do want this to work with you. I just don't want to jump into anything blindly. As hard as it is for me to say . . . would it be okay if you take me back to my apartment and we can talk more tomorrow?"

"Wait, back it up to that middle part. Did I hear right? You're willing to try and make this work?"

"Yes, you heard right. I think I am."

"Then for right now . . . that's all I need to hear." Micah pressed his lips to her temple and squeezed her shoulders one more time. He stood up and held out his hand to help her up.

"Come on, I'll take you home."

Emily smiled and took his hand. Now she embraced the feel of his touch, and it felt warm and good.

As she was putting on her coat she gestured jokingly at the Aquaman dispenser still on the couch.

"A couple hundred bucks huh . . . there's a lot of crazy collector's out there."

Micah laughed as he put his hand on the small of her back and guided her out the door.

"I don't think I'll be selling him anytime soon." He gave her a meaningful glance as he turned the dead bolt to his apartment.

This night had been a huge revelation for them both, and though Emily still had a lot to process, she had nothing but good feelings about making this work with Micah.

******IMPORTANT CALLING ALL FANS***  
**

**If you want to help in the fight to at least make a public statement to the CW on why they shouldn't have cancelled this amazing show please go their website . At the bottom in the "About" section there is a link for feedback. Click on that and give the CW a piece of your mind!  
**

**UPDATE: Last time I clicked, it went to a page that said "Sorry that page is unavailable" I'm going to keep checking back so please don't be discouraged if this pops up! It might mean that enough people are complaining that the CW temporarily closed that page.  
**

*****Another update on sending feedback to the CW*****

**I saw on the Emily Owens Facebook page that you can call the CW directly and leave feedback? The number I saw was 818-977-2500. **

**Also I can't directly type their feedback email address because FF won't let you post links, so I have to write it like this: feedback at CWTV dot com **

**Obviously no spaces and use a period instead of the word dot and an "at sign" instead of "at"  
**

**If you can please email or leave a message by phone that you want Emily Owens to continue, I think that's about the only way we can make a difference to keeping this show!  
**


	3. Revelations

**Sorry this chapter's so short guys, but the good news is that I've decided to continue this story! I'm starting a new job this week, (at a hospital, no less!) but my plan is to update again sometime soon after the finale. I also want to thank everyone so much for all their feedback and support, the Emily Owens community rocks! **

**Another update on sending feedback to the CW: I saw on the Emily Owens Facebook page that you can call the CW directly and leave feedback? The number I saw was 818-977-2500. **

**Also I can't directly type the email because FF won't let you post links, so I have to write it like this: feedback at CWTV dot com **

**Obviously no spaces and use a period instead of the word dot and an "at sign" instead of "at"  
**

**Thanks for all your support again, please enjoy!**

It was just after two in the morning and Emily was tip-toeing past the couch in her apartment. True to her word, Tyra had opted to crashing on the couch and Emily definitely didn't want to wake the sleeping dragon.

Careful to avoid the two squeaky spots right before her bedroom door, she sighed in relief as she reached her destination. She was about to turn in for the night, but took one last quick glance behind her.

_Aw, she looks so cute when she's asleep! Maybe this whole roommate thing won't be so bad! Funny, I thought she'd be more of a snorer . . . Uh oh._

Almost as if on cue, Tyra's voice rang out in the dark room.

"Emily . . . did you _really_ think you could get by me that easily? Come on, you have to give me at least something juicy so I can get back to sleep. I've been tossing and turning for the past hour!"

Emily sighed in resignation. The sooner she had this talk the sooner they could get in the few hours of sleep left in the night.

She plopped down beside her on the couch as Tyra lifted the quilt up so they could both snuggle in for some good girl talk.

"Alright, so what do you want to know?" Emily sheepishly asked. She was secretly taunting Tyra just a _teensy_ bit, having fun at making her work for it.

"Emily, you're killing me! Where do I start . . . hmm let me think. Oh yeah. What the heck was going on between you and Micah before I interrupted you outside the bar! Also, more importantly . . ." -Tyra paused dramatically- "what kept you gone until after two in the morning!"

Emily figured if she started talking about Micah right away they might be up all night. But that's not all that happened tonight . . .

"Well before I get into the whole Micah situation . . . you might be interested to know that Will broke up with Cassandra."

Tyra's eyes grew wide. "You're joking right?"

Emily smiled at Tyra's astonishment. "Nope. And you know the crazy thing? My feelings for Will did not come back. I actually feel horrible for him because he said that Cassandra gave him an ultimatum . . . and he chose me over her."

"No way! Oh Emily . . . what did you say to him?"

Emily grimaced a little bit. "Um . . . he wanted to talk to me about it alone at the apartment. I told him I couldn't talk tonight because I needed to work things out with Micah."

A tiny tear rolled down Emily's cheek at the memory. "I left him there, Tyra. My best friend who was hurting . . . and I couldn't even be there for him when he needed me."

"Oh, I'm so sorry Emily." Tyra wrapped her arms around Emily and gave her a big hug. "I'm sure he'll understand, he was just hurting in the moment."

Emily nodded her head and hugged Tyra back. She was actually really grateful that Tyra was here for her right now.

Tyra gently let go of Emily and playfully nudged her shoulder. "Now, quit stalling girl. You've left out the juiciest information. What happened between you and Micah?"

Emily's cheeks instantly started to warm up at the memory. "Yeah, about that . . . he kissed me."

"I knew it!" Tyra jumped off the couch sending the quilt to the floor and starting doing a mock victory dance. "Emily got some booty, Emily got some booty!"

Emily started to get embarrassed. "Tyra!" she hissed. "There are other people living in this building, you know, can you please keep it down?"

Tyra immediately restrained herself and sat back on the couch. "Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"Also, since you're so intent on making a big deal of it . . . just to be clear, I did not get some booty."

"Seriously?" Tyra looked skeptical.

"Seriously." Emily replied.

"Didn't you go to his apartment?"

"Well . . . yes-"

"Was there some heavy making out involved?"

"Yeah, but I don't see how that mat-"

"And you didn't sleep with him?! Girl, we seriously need to have a talk about the science of _getting laid_. Well at least you got to second base. Come on, I need the details! Is Micah a good kisser? Or is he one of those people that uses too much tongue? I _hate it _when girls use too much tongue."

Emily just laughed nervously. Seeing as this conversation could probably go on all night, she decided she had to nip it in the bud.

_Come on Emily, use your massive vocabulary of witticisms to distract her!_

"Um . . . I think I'm going hit the hay. Night, Tyra!"

_Nice one, Emily. _

Tyra pouted as Emily got up from the couch. "Aw come on, Emily, I'm just excited that at least one of us is getting some. I'm still in mourning for Hot Molly!"

Emily gave a small shake of her head as she walked back to her bedroom door. She turned around and smiled.

"Yeah, he is. Micah is an amazing kisser."

Tyra was surprisingly quiet. Right before Emily was sure she wasn't going to say anything, she heard Tyra murmur, "Thanks Ems, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks Tyra." Emily whispered back.

Emily closed the door softly behind her and fell -quite literally- into bed. She was exhausted, but it seemed to take forever until she fell asleep. As the few hours left in the night ticked by, all too soon her alarm blared in her ear waking her up for another hectic day at Denver Memorial.


	4. Chaos

Emily and Tyra were running late. There had been a water main break on the main drag, so they had to be creative and took some side roads. After the tenth red light they'd hit, Emily was ready to lose her normally cool composure.

She honked her horn in frustration.

Tyra glanced over at her. "Uh . . . Owens? That's not going to make the light change any faster."

Emily just gave the evil eye to Tyra who was smart enough to back off.

Finally they pulled into the staff parking lot of Denver Memorial. They were about five minutes late but to Emily it felt like fifty minutes, she hated not being punctual! She threw open the car door as soon as they parked and started rushing towards the front door. On top of that, they didn't get a good parking spot so it was pretty far away!

"Wait up Ems, this isn't the Boston Marathon. We've never been late before, they'll understand about the traffic!" Tyra puffed behind her.

Emily briefly slowed down her stride so Tyra could catch up.

"I just don't want to draw any attention to myself today. I want to keep it cool and calm. That's the only way I'm going to be able to stay professional and not let my emotions get in the way today."

Tyra gave a knowing smile. "Want to make sure you don't give Micah bedroom eyes all day?"

"Tyra!" Emily said in a shocked whisper. "Unlike you not all of us think about sex 10 times a –"

Suddenly from the other end of the parking lot someone was screaming.

"Please help! My grandma won't get up." A panicked teenager waved her arms frantically.

Emily and Tyra rushed over. Emily knelt down beside the collapsed lady. She quickly looked up at the woman's granddaughter.

"My name is Dr. Owens. What happened, and what's your name sweetie?"

The granddaughter was shaking.

"My name's Amy, I'm her granddaughter, her name is Bernice Sampson. I don't know what happened, she was having trouble breathing. She kept saying it felt like her throat was closing up. Then she just collapsed!"

Emily nodded quickly and turned to assess the situation.

"Ma'am are you alright, can you hear me?" She tapped her shoulder and put her ear next to her mouth and checked her pulse.

"She's not breathing. Call 911!"

"Can't we call a code?" Tyra quickly mentioned as she punched in 911 on her cell phone. She handed the phone to the granddaughter so she could assist Emily. "Here honey, just tell them to send paramedics to the outdoor staff parking lot at Denver Memorial."

Emily shook her head. "No, we're too far away from the hospital. She still has a faint pulse . . . I'm going to check her airway, Tyra get ready to start compressions in case she crashes."

_ABCD . . . airway, breathing, circulation, defibrillation. Adjust her airway, make sure there's nothing obstructing . . . just your basic CPR Emily._

In case there was any spinal injury Emily gently used the jaw thrust method to help support the head and get a proper airway. She took a quick look and gently swished her fingers to make sure there were no foreign objects or debris in the woman's mouth.

"I'm going to start mouth to mouth."

Amy had hung up the phone and handed it back to Tyra. "The paramedics are on their way."

Tyra thanked Amy then gave Emily a look. "Emily we don't have a barrier . . . you don't know what caused her to have that reaction. The team should be here any second now."

"And every second we wait is another second her brain isn't getting any oxygen," Emily insisted.

Amy had tears welling up in her eyes. "Please try and save her Dr. Owens, she's really a normally healthy person!"

Emily just looked at Tyra. Tyra sighed and rolled her eyes.

"It's your funeral."

Realizing that it was now or never, Emily sealed the woman's nose and attempted to give her a breath. Emily waited for her chest to rise . . . nothing. She readjusted the airway and tried again. The woman's chest rose a tiny bit, but not much.

"I think her throat has swelled almost shut from anaphylactic shock, I can't get a decent airway! I'm going to check her pulse again, are the EMT's on their way?"

Just as she said that she saw in the distance a group of paramedics and nurses running, they'd be here in less than no time. She felt her carotid again and this time didn't feel a pulse.

"Tyra, start compressions! She doesn't have a pulse!"

Tyra started pushing furiously on the woman's chest. Soon the paramedics arrived with a stretcher. They quickly set it beside the patient as the EMT's took over CPR.

Emily quickly filled them in, "She's not breathing and doesn't have a pulse! It's most likely an allergic reaction; she needs a shot of Epi, stat!"

One of the nurses quickly injected the medication while a paramedic gave two quick breaths through the barrier device.

"I got a better airway, still no pulse. Continue compressions!"

They attempted a few more times then quickly got out the defibrillator and cut open her shirt and bra to place the leads on her chest.

"Alright ready to shock, everyone clear!" One of the paramedics shouted. Everyone moved away from the patient. Another paramedic yelled, "All clear!"

The woman's chest jolted as they administered the shock. The paramedic checked the pulse again.

"Charging again, everyone clear!"

This time the woman gasped in a big breath of air after the shock. The paramedics quickly rolled her to her side while supporting her head. She started to vomit.

The woman started to shake as the nurse on scene quickly wiped her mouth with a damp wipe.

"What's happening? Where's Amy . . . ooh my neck is so sore. God . . . my head."

Emily leaned over as the team prepared to put a cervical spine collar on Bernice before transferring her to the stretcher.

"Bernice, we think you had an allergic reaction. You had a nasty fall so we're just going to support your neck until we have a chance to do some X-rays and make sure everything checks out. Your granddaughter's here too."

Emily and Tyra helped put a slider under the patient and then assisted in transferring her to the stretcher. The nurse supported the head.

"Ready? One, two . . ." They slid Bernice onto the stretcher, hoisted it up and started to wheel her towards the Emergency Department.

"Amy . . . where are you?" Bernice cried out frantically.

Amy ran up behind the stretcher. "I'm right here Grandma! Everything's going to be fine."

"Honey . . . do you think there was any shell fish in that breakfast burrito? I thought it only had eggs . . ."

"Don't worry about that now, these people are going to take good care of you." She turned to Emily again. "Thank you Dr. Owens . . . I know you only worked for a few seconds on my Grandma, but I think it did make a difference. Thank you so much!" She quickly gave her a hug and continued running after her grandma's stretcher.

"You're welcome Amy, sorry I have to run but I'll check in on you and your Grandma later!" Emily called out after her.

Emily and Tyra rushed to the locker rooms and got changed in record time. By now they were twenty minutes late and Emily was nervous about how Micah was going to react. Because he was taking over Dr. Bandari's responsibilities she knew that he wouldn't go easy on them.

They quietly opened the door to the first patient's room where the rest of the group was gathered. Hoping they wouldn't be too disruptive they stood near the back of the group. Micah was standing near the head of the patient's bed, his eyes sharpening and focusing on the two women. He did not look impressed.

"Ah, Dr. Owens and Dr. Dupre. We were just discussing this patient's chronic diarrhea. He's been unresponsive to the standard batch of antibiotics, what would you suggest our next course of action to be? Dr. Owens?"

Emily cleared her throat. "Normally if standard antibiotics are ineffective, a stool sample could be obtained to determine the type of bacteria or the possibility of a parasite . . ." Emily trailed off, she didn't like where this was headed.

She heard a snort from her left. She saw Cassandra trying to not look too pleased at the situation. She smiled sweetly at Emily.

Emily then turned to look at the patient. A very frail looking man in his mid-thirties sheepishly looked back at her. He looked very malnourished and in need of a good home cooked meal.

Micah gave a smug smile. "Excellent. Since the nurses are fairly swamped today as it is, I'm sure you and Dr. Dupre are more than capable of obtaining this sample and running it down to the lab?"

"Yes Dr. Barnes," Emily and Tyra said simultaneously.

Emily glanced over at Will who was at least giving her a sympathetic smile. As soon as their eyes met though, he looked down at the floor.

"Good," Micah said.

"When you're finished with that, we're meeting near the front desk in about an hour." He then turned to address the whole group.

"Listen up everybody! I'm heading two OR procedures this afternoon and will be selecting two individuals for each procedure. The first is just a routine CABG for a patient with quite a few blockages, and the other is to put in a temporary stent and to test the hearts viability to see if it's a candidate for Dr. Bandari's V-cuff. I'm sure you realize how important this is to Dr. Bandari as she wants to start the first clinical trial as soon as she's back from vacation."

He gave a meaningful glance around the room at all the eager and hopeful eyes.

"Alright that is all. You all know your assignments, let's hop to it people!"

Micah looked over his shoulder and gave Emily a small wink as he and the other interns left the room.

_Thank god! I thought he was really going to be mad at me. This whole boss thing is going to be pretty tricky to manage . . . but really it could have been worse. I'll just put on some gloves and good to go!_

Cassandra was one of the last people to leave the room as well. She smiled smugly as she brushed past Emily on her way out. She whispered under her breath so only Emily could hear and not insult the patient.

"Hey, it could be worse, pits. At least this patient can make it to the bathroom . . . or can he?"

She laughed quietly and finally left the room closing the door behind her.

_And I was just starting to feel sorry for her . . . thanks for the wakeup call Cassandra!_

Emily and Tyra both donned gowns and put gloves on. Emily walked up to the patient smiling and looked at the chart.

"François? We're just going to need to take a stool sample, have you gone to the bathroom recently?"

The man just gave a weak smile. "Parlez-vous français?"

Emily glanced at Tyra. "Do you speak any French?"

Tyra just raised her eyebrows as if she was saying, _Does it look like it?_

"Right . . ." Emily paused for a moment. "Oh wait, there's that phone number we can call for a hospital interpreter."

Tyra quickly caught on and grabbed a portable phone from the wall. "Great idea Ems! I'll call the translator and you can collect the sample." She started dialing quickly.

Emily just rolled her eyes. Typical Tyra to weasel her way out of the dirty work.

Tyra quickly got a hold of a translator and began passing the phone back and forth between her and the patient to relay the instructions. When François realized what they intended his cheeks turned bright red, but he nodded. When Tyra asked him if he could make it to the bathroom his eyes grew wide and he quickly shook his head.

Seeing the alarm on his face, Emily quickly grabbed a bedpan and assisted him onto it as fast as she could. It wasn't long before he finished his business. Emily handed him some baby wipes and toilet paper to clean up and quickly went to the washroom to collect the specimen and flush the remainder. Just as she was finished cleaning up she started to get nauseous.

_Jeez, Emily you usually don't have this weak of a stomach . . . this feels like the time you accidently ate that seafood. Wait . . . slow light bulb moment! Didn't that Bernice lady say she was allergic to shellfish? I'm allergic to shellfish! Uh oh._

Emily looked into the mirror and saw that her lips were starting to puff up. She quickly called Tyra.

"Tyra . . . I think I need some Epi!"

"What for Ems? The patient's fine in here!"

"No . . ." Emily walked out of the bathroom, her lips now twice their normal size.

"I mean I need Epi for me! I think I'm having a reaction from doing mouth to mouth to Bernice!"

Tyra's eyes went wide as she saw Emily's face and she ran out in the hall. "I need some epinephrine, stat! Dr. Owens is having an allergic reaction!"

A few moments later Will burst into the room, pushing past a disgruntled Tyra. He had an Epi pen in hand. He rushed over to Emily and quickly jabbed the medication into her thigh. He grabbed a chair and swiftly helped Emily sit down into it.

He knelt down beside her and looked with concern into her eyes. He brushed her hair away from her face and held his hand there. "Emily? Are you okay?" Emily looked gratefully up at him. Maybe he wasn't mad at her anymore! "Thanks Will . . . I'll be fine in a couple minutes."

Just then Micah launched himself into the room. This time Tyra had moved back near the patient. They both looked amusedly at each other and just sat back and enjoyed the show.

Micah took a quick look around and saw Will down beside Emily his hand still on her face. He looked back and forth between them.

"What is going on here?"

Emily looked over at Micah and smiled sheepishly. "Oh you know me, going above and beyond for my patients and contracting their allergic reactions."

He raised an eyebrow then angrily turned his eyes on Will who slowly took his hand away from Emily's face.

Emily suddenly turned a violent shade of green.

"I think I'm gonna be . . ."

The two men raced for the nearest kidney basin. Will's long arms gave him the advantage and he rushed over to Emily before she hurled up her morning coffee and bagel.

Still looking pissed at Will, Micah's eyes softened in pity as Emily finished throwing up.

"Emily, you need to lie down and rest. I really want you to be ready for the clinical trial procedure this afternoon."

Emily's eyes widened in appreciation! This would cement her in her role as Dr. Bandari's research assistant! Will however was not pleased. He swung around and looked at Micah narrowing his eyes.

"I thought you weren't announcing that for another hour."

Micah's own eyes turned to slits. "Dr. Collins, considering the circumstances I felt that Emily should know so she can make a speedy recovery. If in fact she isn't well enough to perform the procedure, well I will make the official announcement in due time. Why don't you make yourself useful and see if the nurses can scrounge up an empty bed for Dr. Owens to lie down in."

Emily looked up still looking a little pale. "Micah, that's not necessary . . . I'll be fine."

Will and Micah both looked at each other again, this time on the same page.

"I'm on it," Will said, hurrying out of the room.

As soon as Will was gone Micah rushed over to Emily giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Are you seriously alright? You scared me half to death . . . jeez you're not having the best of luck today Emily!"

Emily smiled and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. They stared into each other's eyes for a few moments.

Suddenly a voice cleared it's throat behind them. Tyra and the patient shared knowing glances thoroughly entertained with the whole spectacle.

"Well . . . François I'm going to run this down to the lab," she said affectionately patting the man's hand. "I'll see you two later," Tyra laughed winking at them suggestively.

Emily looked back at her patient smiling apologetically. He seemed to understand the universal sign and just waved her on, making it seem like no big deal.

Emily still held onto the kidney basin. "Micah do you mind just . . ."

Micah quickly grabbed the basin and disposed of the contents in the toilet.

Just then, Will came back with a wheel chair.

"Your chariot awaits Madam," He said with a flourish of his hand.

"Thanks, Will." Emily said weakly as he helped her into the wheel chair.

Micah came out of the bathroom. His eyes shot to Will, his patience was wearing thin.

"Dr. Collins, I believe your patient in D12 is waiting for their lab results? How about you go and see if those are done yet."

Will glared at Micah, but still being smart enough not to overstep his superior, he nodded quickly.

"Sure thing, Dr. Barnes. Then you won't mind taking Emily to the east wing? Sunny knows which room, you can ask her."

"Be more than happy to, Dr. Collins."

"Great." Will threw back.

"Great." Micah mimicked.

Finally defeated Will left the room and headed off to the blood work lab. Micah just shook his head and quickly flipped the brakes up on the wheel chair and took Emily to her room after Sunny pointed them in the right direction.

When they got there, Micah closed the door to give them some privacy. He helped her into the bed before beginning his questioning.

"So what was that again you were saying about an allergic reaction?"

Emily smiled sheepishly.

"Well let's say that I was later than usual because of a water main break. Then let's say that a patient collapses in the parking lot and stops breathing."

Micah raised his eyebrows but patiently waited until Emily finished.

"_Then _let's say that instead of waiting for the paramedics with the proper CPR kit Emily decides to do direct mouth to mouth because she knows every second this woman has without oxygen could make the difference between saving her life."

Micah groaned, "You didn't." He looked into her crystal blue eyes with his deep brown ones. He touched her softly on her cheek.

"No I take that back . . . of course you did. You do realize you'll have to write up an incident report about this?"

Emily gave him a mock serious salute. "Aye, aye captain." Then her face quickly got serious. "Don't worry Micah, I'll make sure I follow correct protocol."

"Shhh . . ." Micah put his finger to her lips. "I'll take care of it. Now I hate to leave you here like this, but I'm kind of swamped with Dr. Bandari gone . . ."

"I understand Micah, it's okay." Emily shooed him away.

"Alright . . . but I want you to get some rest, I know how much you need to be a part of this procedure this afternoon. I'll get someone to check on you and make sure that the epinephrine was enough for that allergic reaction."

Leaning over her once more he placed a quick kiss on her lips and laughed at her shocked expression as he headed towards the door.

"Don't worry Dr. Owens, I'm not allergic to anything. And you're still beautiful . . . even post vomit."

Emily glared a little bit at him for that comment, but her lips were still tingling from his kiss. She let herself bask in that moment for a few seconds more, but reality beckoned. She knew she needed to get as much fluids and rest as she could; she wanted to be in top form.

_Oh my god, it's not even ten o'clock yet and I've helped resuscitate a patient, got delegated to obtaining stool samples and then had my own allergic reaction. Not to mention that showdown between Will and Micah . . . this is going to get complicated._

Emily got lost in her thoughts. Hopefully the rest of the day would go as planned. As Gina's research assistant she couldn't afford not to be a part of this important step!


	5. Secrets

Emily was just about to doze off when she heard a knock at the door. A porter brought in a frail looking woman in a wheelchair. The woman looked up at Emily and her smile lit up her whole face. You wouldn't have known she had just had yet another round of chemotherapy.

"Joyce!" Emily exclaimed. She quickly started to get out of bed but Joyce waved her off.

"Now honey from what I've heard you need all the rest you can get before your surgery this afternoon."

She motioned towards the bed, "Got room for one more?"

Emily laughed and shuffled over so Joyce could join her under the covers. The porter helped set her IV poll next to the bed.

"Thanks Brian! I'm okay for now. I'll call when I'm ready to leave."

The porter gave a small chuckle. "You got it Joyce. I know you have me on speed dial! You two have fun ladies."

Joyce waved at Brian, smiling as he left the room.

Emily raised her eyes appreciatively. "On a first name basis with one of the porters? You really know how to work this system!"

"Oh all it takes is a little sense of humor. Plus everyone loves my Micah around here, they're all so nice to me!" She looked over at Emily's own IV pole on the opposite side of the bed.

"Hey we're matching today! What kind of chemical concoction have they set you up with?" Joyce asked Emily as she snuggled up beside her.

Emily gave a sad smile but decided to humor Joyce. "Oh, you know . . . nothing as cool as your mix. Just standard saline for me to help flush the toxins out of my system and keep me hydrated. Apparently the epinephrine and hurling my guts out wasn't enough. "

Joyce laughed bitterly. "I wish that was the cure for me, lord knows I toss my cookies enough!" She gave a quick look at Emily's sad face then smiled apologetically.

"But enough about all this sad business! Micah came in to visit me this morning like everything was sunshine and rainbows outside. I have a feeling the reason for that is you, honey. He won't give me any details! Woman to woman . . . have you finally decided to date my son?"

Emily felt giddy just thinking about Micah. Joyce noticed the change in Emily immediately.

"Oh sweetie, I just knew that you had feelings for my Micah mouse, I'm so happy for you!"

Joyce gave Emily a big hug which started her IV monitor beeping. Emily just started laughing.

"Joyce, if you keep hugging me too tight your IV line will stay kinked!"

Joyce quickly straightened her arm and the annoying beeping of the IV alarm quieted down.

She glared at the IV pole menacingly. "I hate that thing, it doesn't take much to set it off and then if someone doesn't come right away it just keeps going, and going. And I usually can't reach the silence button 'cause it's too far away!"

Emily just shook her head. "I know what you mean, but sometimes there is something that they need to check. How have you been feeling?"

Joyce just shrugged her shoulders. "Oh the same . . . but now that there's a chance I might have grandbabies before this disease does me in –"

"Joyce . . ." Emily interrupted. "I know how hard all these treatments are affecting you. I see you struggle every day though I know you try to put on a brave face for Micah. Have you told him how you feel? I mean how you _really _feel?"

Joyce just looked down at her hands. "I didn't think you'd noticed. It's getting to the point where I'm ready to go. And I want to fight for my kids . . . but my tumor hasn't gotten any smaller. I see myself wasting away and I realize that I don't have much time left. I've read that if you stop treatment you can have weeks, maybe even a month of feeling almost better again . . . before the cancer takes over."

Joyce grabbed onto Emily's hand tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'm ready to go, Emily. I want to stay in the comfort of my home, surrounded by the people I love. I'm ready to say goodbye. I want to leave this earth on my terms. Not sick as a dog surrounded by all this . . . disease"

Emily was tearing up too. She held Joyce to her chest as both women cried softly. Emily just kept rocking Joyce back and forth, not sure what she should say to her. Joyce slowly quieted down and gave a sad sigh.

"D – don't tell Micah. I'm almost ready to let him know, but I want to wait until his sister's in town tomorrow."

Joyce brushed her face as another stray tear slid down her cheek. "I just want my kids to be happy . . . especially Micah. You really are an angel that's come into my son's life."

She smiled at Emily with hope for the future in her eyes. "I'm really excited for both of you. I'm ready to focus on something good for a change."

Emily grabbed a tissue dabbing at her eyes and handed one to Joyce who took it gratefully.

Emily was at a loss for words. She finally started, "Joyce . . . I want you to know that your son makes me very happy."

Joyce beamed back at her, "I'm so happy to hear that."

Emily took a big breath in, she didn't want to say the next part the wrong way and totally crush Joyce's good mood.

"But . . . I just want you to know we're not jumping into anything too fast." Joyce's face fell a little bit. Emily quickly continued on. "_However, _the reason why I'm taking things one step at a time is because . . . I think we have something really good. And I don't want to mess it up."

Joyce gave a sympathetic smile. "You won't honey. Just show him how you feel and my Micah mouse will make sure that you two do this thing right."

Emily laughed again, "I heard you say it before . . . how did Micah get that nickname?"

Joyce leaned in conspiratorially, "Well he'd never forgive me if I told you . . . but I can trust you to keep a secret?" Joyce waited in anticipation for Emily's response. Emily had a feeling she wasn't just talking about the nickname.

She nodded her head confidently. "You can count on me. Any secret is safe with me."

Joyce nodded gratefully.

"Well . . . back in middle school, Micah was what you could call a late bloomer. He was always smaller than the other boys and always had his head stuck in a book. So I called him my little Micah mouse. Unfortunately his sister let everyone in the school know and the name pretty much followed him all the way up to high school. Then of course he hit his growth spurt and is the fine young looking man you see today."

Emily nodded her head in agreement then caught herself, blushing a little. "Well I can see why it would be a sensitive subject. Don't worry, I won't say a thing."

Joyce nodded. "Thanks, Emily. Well, it's been lovely chatting with you, dear. You're really the only one I've got who I can be completely straight with . . . it really means a lot."

Emily gave her one more hug as they waited for "speed-dial Brian" to come pick Joyce up.

"I've really enjoyed our friendship too, Joyce. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart . . . even before I started having feelings for Micah."

Brian soon entered the room and helped Joyce back in her wheel chair.

Just before leaving Joyce looked back at Emily and said something she would never forget.

"Just be careful with my son's heart. He's slow to heal when he's been hurt because he cares too much sometimes. It's his blessing and his curse . . . just keep that in mind dear."

The silence in the room was almost deafening to Emily as the door closed behind Joyce. She would do her best not to hurt Micah, but having the added pressure of his loving mother's request definitely scared her a little.

_Just one day at a time Emily, that's all you can do. Look before leaping . . . what have I gotten myself into?_


	6. Deception

It was only a few minutes before the announcement of the OR procedures and all the interns had gathered at the front desk. Cassandra had been in a pissy mood all morning knowing Emily would be a shoo-in considering her role as Gina's research assistant. With Emily's allergic reaction though . . . Cassandra just knew she'd be the next logical choice.

She glanced over at Will and couldn't resist saying something even though she was mostly trying to avoid him, the hurt of their break-up too fresh.

"So with Emily getting so sick, you got your hopes up for that stent placement? I know it's pretty routine, but it's going to be on a possible patient for Dr. Bandari's clinical trial . . . this could lead to some really cutting edge stuff."

Will shuffled his feet, still unnerved that Cassandra was talking to him like nothing had happened. _Sorry to burst your bubble, Cassandra,_ he thought. He gave her an awkward smile.

"Well actually . . . it looks as if Emily's already feeling better. They kind of went all-out and hooked her up to an IV to get everything flushed out of her system. Also _Dr. Barnes_ already mentioned to her that she was going to do the surgery as long as she was recovered."

Will didn't realize it, but Cassandra had tuned into his voice like a piranha smelling blood in the water. Especially after hearing the acid in his voice at the words "Dr. Barnes."

She raised her eyebrows in curiosity. "Interesting . . . that almost seems like preferential treatment seeing as how he'd stated he was making the announcement to all of us at the same time."

Will choked out a laugh. "That's one way of putting it." Seeing the fire build in Cassandra's eyes he realized his mistake and quickly back-tracked. "Though I think Emily might have already been pre-selected by Dr. Bandari . . . so it wasn't really a huge surprise . . ."

Cassandra wasn't going to let this go.

"Come on Will . . . I know that we aren't a thing anymore and you really care about Emily, but you can be honest with me. Is there something going on between those two that would give her an edge over the rest of us?"

Will just looked at the floor not being a hundred percent certain what that answer was and also not wanting to betray Emily.

"I'm really not sure Cassandra . . . well here's Micah, I guess we'll find out soon enough what's going on."

They both looked up as Dr. Barnes quickly strode down the hall towards them. He was clearly in a time crunch and didn't waste time with the pleasantries.

"Alright people, just in case I wasn't clear earlier there's going to be two interns assisting in each case. There is going to be a primary assist and a secondary assist. The secondary assist will mostly be observing but will also rotate in at different points in the surgery. Because both of these are routine procedures I want to see how you guys think on the fly."

Everyone gave each other surprised glances. This was much different to how Dr. Bandari would run her OR. She wouldn't stand for anything less than a calm controlled environment.

"Of course as always I will be supervising and if I feel that you are not up to the challenge . . . be prepared to be asked to step aside."

_That's more like it, _Cassandra thought. She was used to the cutthroat world of Dr. Bandari. Sink or swim . . . and now that she had her goal in her sights she was definitely not going to sink. Not anymore.

Micah continued on. "Alright, here it is people. For the CABG I'm going to have Dr. Dupre as primary and Dr. Madson as secondary."

Tyra looked pleased, she was excited to be put on top for once. She nodded her head and glanced over at Dr. Madson who seemed to just be happy that he was selected for any surgery at all after scoring the lowest on the in-service exam.

"And finally for the stent placement and viability test . . . I have Dr. Owens as primary and Dr. Kopelson as secondary. Also as you may have heard, Dr. Owens had a little medical emergency this morning so if she is not well enough to partake in the procedure, Dr. Kopelson you will be moving into the primary spot and Dr. Collins, you will be her secondary."

They both nodded.

Cassandra was seeing red. She was so close to getting her claws back into that research position she could just taste the sweetness of success. A dark and ugly plan started brewing in her mind yet she wasn't sure if she could cross that line yet . . .

Will glanced over at Cassandra knowing from experience that the wheels were turning in her head . . . though he was a little frightened at the expression on her face. All too quickly her features smoothed over and she gave him a brief cool smile as she headed off to tend to the rest of her patients for the morning. He had a feeling she was up to something and decided he should probably give Emily a heads up. He quickly headed off as well before Micah could find him some other meaningless task to do.

Micah didn't notice them leave as he was too busy going over the rest of the day's duties with the interns who hadn't been selected for any surgeries. He quickly then made his own apologies and asked to only be paged in an emergency as he rushed off to prep for the afternoon.

* * *

Cassandra quickly finished with her morning patients and went to get her secret ingredient before heading to the staff lounge. She quietly opened the door and sighed in relief, no one was in there. Knowing she had to act quickly she opened up the fridge and saw Emily's signature ham sandwich in its place on the top shelf.

Setting her plan into action, she grabbed some Mayo from the fridge and added a little bit more to what was already on the sandwich. She paused before the next part . . . but she had come too far already, she was willing to do anything to be the primary on that procedure!

She finally brought out her "weapon in a bottle" - Clamato juice. She splashed a few drops on the new layer of mayo – just enough to make Emily ill again without it seeming like she was having a new reaction. She blended it all together carefully with a knife and put the sandwich back in the fridge.

She gave a sigh of relief that no one had caught her. She felt a little guilty though . . . she'd make sure to keep an eye on Emily just in case she did end up having a more severe reaction . . . but in the end this was her career and nobody was going to stand in her way.

A few seconds later she heard laughing as a couple of other interns opened the door and waved to her as they grabbed their break-time coffee. She smiled at them as she made her way out, deciding to head up to the roof to get some fresh air before lunch and to mentally prepare herself for this afternoon.

Looking down at the floor she almost didn't see Emily heading towards her closet of an office. She no longer was hooked up to an IV and looked annoyingly healthy and rested.

She narrowed her eyes before quickly putting on her signature smile. "Hey, Pits. You had quite a scare this morning, are you sure you're up to anything this afternoon? I'm sure Dr. Bandari would understand once she hears about it . . . considering the circumstances."

Emily just gave a knowing smile not fooled by Cassandra's concern for one minute.

"You know Cassandra, I suddenly feel much better! Those hospital beds are so comfortable, you should try one sometime." She gave her a mock wave as she headed into her office. "See you in surgery!"

Cassandra just glared at her and ran off in the other direction. _Damn you Owens . . . I'm glad I did what I did . . . it's a dog eat dog world out there and you're not coming out of this in one piece._

* * *

Emily shook her head as she watched Cassandra storm off.

_Some things never change, and others are constantly throwing you for a loop  
_

Emily walked into her office. It wasn't empty.


	7. Emily's Mistake

Emily smiled in surprise at her new visitor.

Tyra was lounging back in Emily's chair with a huge grin on her face, excitement dancing in her eyes.

"Hey fellow "primary assist" did you hear the good news?" Tyra asked Emily.

Emily shook her head. "Micah just let me know that I would be assisting on the stent placement. Oh, and I ran into Sunny who told me that Cassandra would be helping as well." She quickly looked at Tyra again.

"Wait . . . so you got chosen for primary on the CABG?"

Tyra dusted off her shoulders. "You know me, just another day at Denver Memorial!"

They both laughed and gave each other high fives.

Tyra grew thoughtful for a moment. "I think it's all karma. By making the tough decision to move out on my own . . . suddenly I'm getting opportunities at work."

Emily smiled. "I feel the same way. I've been through so much these past few months, things are finally starting to pay off . . . in more ways than one."

Tyra gave her a knowing look. "Yeah . . . about that - how _are_ you going to concentrate on the surgery when Micah's going to be just inches away from you watching your every move?"

Emily felt her cheeks go warm.

"Well, I think it'll actually put me more at ease . . . when I'm with Micah I feel very relaxed and on my game . . . so I'll just try not to think about the other stuff until after surgery."

Tyra sighed. "Oh you're no fun sometimes." She laughed though, clearly teasing.

"Anyways, I'll catch you later? I need to go grab something to eat before the afternoon." Tyra started to head out the door.

Emily felt her stomach grumble. "Good idea, Tyra, just got to take care of some stuff first."

Emily organized a few things and then headed to the staff lounge. Just as she was about to go inside, Will ran up behind her.

"Emily! There you are - I thought you were still in your room."

Emily smiled, she was glad Will was still talking to her as a friend.

"Nope, I got the all clear and I definitely feel much better. Had a little cat nap and I'm ready for action!"

Will grinned back. "That's great, Emily! How about you let me buy you lunch, it's the least I can do after your crazy ordeal this morning."

Emily hesitated . . . "I already brought a lunch though . . ."

Will gave her a skeptical look. "What sounds better Owens, a cold ham sandwich or Pad Thai from across the street?"

Emily pouted back at him, "I happen to think that my ham sandwiches are pretty tasty. It's an old family recipe passed down through ten generations."

Will just raised his eyebrows. "And your answer is?"

Emily swallowed. "Pad Thai, definitely Pad Thai."

"Alright then, it's a date!"

Emily looked up at Will confused for a second at his choice of words, but he just gave her one of his famous Will smiles and she pushed her thoughts aside. It felt good to be hanging out with her friend again.

* * *

Will and Emily got back to her office, and they were laughing hysterically.

"Wait, wait tell me that again . . . you seriously walked in on Tyra and Hot Molly making out in the stairwell? What did they say?" Emily gasped.

Will chuckled thinking back.

"I can't be sure 'cause it happened so fast, but I'm pretty sure Tyra said, 'Go find your own lesbian, Collins'."

Emily just shook her head. "Typical Tyra. I still feel bad she got rejected though . . . I wonder if Molly will give her another chance?"

Will shrugged his shoulders. "I think that if you really care about someone . . . that you'll always give them a second chance."

Emily could feel the tension in the room suddenly change . . . she looked up at Will and saw him looking at her in a completely different way than he ever had before.

"Emily . . . I have to ask you something."

_Relax Emily, he's probably just going to ask you about the surgeries this afternoon. Wait . . . when did his eyes get dreamier than usual?_

Emily gave a weak smile suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

"Sure, Will. You can ask me anything."

Will nodded gratefully. He took a deep breath of courage.

"When you left with Micah last night . . . what happened? And I'll understand if you don't want to tell me . . . but I do care about you and I want to be there for you."

Emily shivered a little as she noticed how close Will was standing in front of her and tingles were travelling up and down her spine. She was surprised at her reaction because mentally she had decided she was completely over Will . . . or so she thought.

"Will . . ." she whispered. "Micah and I have decided that we want to give our relationship a try . . . but we're taking it one day at a time." She shrugged sheepishly, "Because, you know, he's my boss and I don't want it to affect my career."

Will sighed and shook his head. "I thought so . . . "He took a small step closer and Emily had to look up even farther because he towered over her.

His next question completely shocked her.

"Have you slept with him yet?"

Emily gave a sharp intake of air. "Will! Not that it's any of your business . . . but no, I haven't slept with him yet."

He sighed in relief. "Good then there's still a chance . . ."

Suddenly, Will placed his hands on either side of Emily's face and kissed her with the force of four years of buried feelings he was just discovering.

Emily froze in shock but hormones were flooding her body and . . .

_Oh my God, Will is an amazing kisser!_

Emily wrapped her arms around Will's neck as he backed her into the desk. They were both gasping for breath in between each kiss and they couldn't get enough. Will started to slowly slide his right hand under the hem of her shirt skimming the sensitive flesh there. It was right about then that sanity finally came back into Emily's mind with the force of a sledgehammer.

_Emily . . . what are you doing? You need to think this through! Think of Micah._

As her thoughts travelled to Micah's name she violently pushed Will away from her.

"Will, stop! I'm sorry . . . I just can't."

Will was breathing heavily with a look of pure lust still on his face.

"What's wrong? Why not?"

"I've decided I want to be with Micah . . . and where the heck did that come from?!"

Will's eyes lost their glow and a pained expression spread across his face.

"Emily . . . when Cassandra made me choose between you and her . . . I didn't realize it at the time, but I chose you. I'm so sorry it took me so long to figure it out, but I finally have. I want _you_ Emily. No one else."

He started to reach towards her, but Emily pulled away.

"Will . . . please understand that I've cared about you for so many years but you just hurt me one too many times. I feel like you're just telling me this now because I've suddenly become unavailable. I'm sorry . . . I've moved on. But I don't want to lose you as a friend!"

Emily reached for his arm but this time is was Will who pulled away.

"You can't have it both ways, Emily!" He angrily replied and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. His voice turned cold. "Listen, it's fine . . . I just need some time away from you for a while." He turned to leave.

"Will, wait! I'm so sorry . . ."

But he had already stormed out the door.

* * *

Emily looked up through the tears that were now trickling down her face and noticed the blinds to the window of her office were open. She looked up into the surprisingly sympathetic eyes of Dr. Aquino. He just shook his head - almost in pity - and started walking down the hall at a quick pace.

_Oh no . . . is he going to tell Micah? I have to find him before this gets out of control. At least he saw me push Will away . . . actually I have no idea how much he saw._

Emily took a quick moment to collect herself then started to run after Dr. Aquino . . . except where the deuce had he gone?

**AN:**

**Thanks for all the comments everyone! I'll try to update as frequently as I can, I already have the next chapter pretty much panned out so hopefully tomorrow I'll have it posted. Don't worry there will be lot's more Emily and Micah coming up so please stay tuned!**


	8. Betrayed

_10 minutes earlier . . .  
_

Micah was walking down the hall at a brisk pace with AJ trying to catch up with him.

"Micah, wait up! I know you're busy, but can you at least talk to me for a sec?" AJ called out to him.

Micah sighed and turned back to face his "hanging by a thread" friend.

"Last time I checked, you told me not to worry about the fact that you "may or may not have" slept with a superior. No offense, but that's the last time I go to bat for you if that's the type of response you give me. So _sorry_ if I'm not in a rush to talk to you."

AJ's shoulders slumped, but he didn't give up. "Look Micah, I'm handling it, okay? I owe you big time, like _big time _so anything you need - I'm your guy."

Micah just shook his head, not convinced. "Look . . . I appreciate it. I just don't need extra drama especially when it involves my boss. So just keep me out of whatever it is that's going on in the future."

AJ just nodded, "No worries, buddy."

Micah tried to hide a smirk, but he couldn't stay mad at his friend forever. He punched AJ in the shoulder.

"Hey, I'm just going to stop by Emily's office then I'm going to head to surgery."

AJ grinned his movie-star grin. "Sounds good, I'll walk you there."

They laughed and joked around like they used to and finally stopped in front of Emily's office.

Micah noticed the blinds were open and glanced in to see if Emily was there. What he saw next would forever be burned into his skull.

Will had Emily pressed up against her desk and her arms were wrapped . . . let's repeat _wrapped _around Will's neck and it didn't look like they were stopping anytime soon.

Micah's heart sunk into his stomach.

Then . . . from years of being able to push away emotional connection to his patients so he could simply _do his job . . . _he squashed down the ugly feelings that were building up inside him.

AJ looked over at what Micah saw and his jaw dropped. Then he looked at Micah and saw just a cold blank expression on his face.

_Oh shite, _AJ thought. _ I haven't seen him like this since that twelve year old kid died on the operating table . . ._

AJ tried to reach out to him. "Micah . . . you can't just jump to conclusions . . ." he tried lamely.

Micah just gave a "do I look like I'm stupid?" stare back at AJ and started jogging down the hall. Literally _jogging. _

AJ quickly looked back in the window just in time to see Emily shove Will away, shaking her head in denial. Then he saw them exchange some heated words that were muffled by the door, so he couldn't quite make it out. Then Will started turning to leave. AJ quickly backed away from the door so Will wouldn't see him. Luckily Will started heading down the opposite direction from where AJ was standing.

_Jeeze . . . this is better than Days of our Lives . . . or even better - General Hospital!_

AJ snuck back to the office window curious to see how Emily was doing. She was sitting on the edge of her desk, head in her hands with tears streaming down her face. Suddenly she looked up and her eyes locked onto his.

AJ's heart reached out to her but all he could give her was a sympathetic smile . . . then he shook his head because he knew what she faced once she talked to Micah. Realizing suddenly that he needed to let Micah know that he saw Emily push Will away, he started walking down the hall at a quick pace.

_Screw this, _he thought. He started _running_ down the hall to find him before his buddy made a huge mistake.

* * *

Cassandra walked up to Micah who was furiously scrubbing in for surgery. She lightly tapped him on the back of the shoulder.

Micah angrily turned around and barked, "What?"

Cassandra was momentarily taken aback. Micah was usually calm and friendly whenever approached. However because she was used to Dr. Bandari's brusque manner, she smoothed a smiled over her startled expression.

"Dr. Barnes, the patient is prepped and ready for surgery. I know that the CABG was scheduled right away, but Tyra just let me know that there are some complications and it's getting pushed back until later."

Micah was annoyed. "What? How come nobody informed me?"

Cassandra just shrugged her shoulders. "Apparently there were some last minute anxieties the patient was having so Tyra is trying with the family to calm the patient down."

Micah sighed. "Just great . . . wait, you said that the stent insertion patient was ready to go?"

Cassandra smiled easily. "Yes, Dr. Barnes. Everything is just waiting and ready at your word."

Micah paused, trying to decide the best course of action.

"How long is the CABG surgery getting pushed back until?" he asked.

"I think Tyra said that they'd need another hour, apparently the patient wanted to wait until his daughter arrived before going under anaesthesia."

Micah did a few calculations in his head. "Alright I guess we can move ahead with the stent insertion . . . but we'll have to begin immediately. Can you go and get Dr. Owens and let her know the surgery has been bumped up?"

Cassandra face dropped for a second . . . then quickly thinking on her feet (though she didn't know for certain if Emily had eaten the sandwich or had a reaction) she decided to lie to Dr. Barnes.

"Actually, I know it's not my call . . . but I was in the women's washroom and overheard someone throwing up into the toilet . . . I looked and saw some god-awful women's shoes . . . I mean I'm pretty sure it was Emily in there, sir."

Micah was shocked at this news because he'd heard that Emily had made a full recovery. He knew he should confront Emily himself but there was so little time. Catching him by surprise his wall crumbled a little and the painful emotions from seeing Emily with Will started sliding up his throat like hot molten lava. It was then he made a decision and crushed those feelings down with all of his strength.

He looked at Cassandra again with his cool blank professional stare. "Right. Well we can't have anything compromising this surgery, can we? Congratulations, you've now moved into the primary spot."

Cassandra squealed excitedly, then after seeing the weirded-out expression on Micah's face, caught herself and said, "Thank you! I guess I'll go let Will know that he's going to be secondary now?"

Micah shook his head quickly. "No . . . there's no time for that. It's your lucky day, Dr. Kopelson. You have the OR all to yourself. Now go get scrubbed in."

"Right away, Dr. Barnes!" Cassandra tried not to skip over to the sink as she started to scrub in.

* * *

AJ finally caught up to Micah who was directing the nurses to bring in Mr. Lawson for surgery. It had taken him a little longer to get there because he had to change into his greens before entering the OR suites. He looked puzzled because he knew that particular surgery was scheduled for the later slot.

He cautiously approached Micah. "Hey . . . why are you starting the stent placement now? I thought it wasn't scheduled until later?"

Micah was organizing where all the sterile equipment would be placed and which angle they would be doing the surgery from. He didn't look up as he answered AJ's question. "The surgery got bumped up because the CABG patient got a little bit of cold feet. Since this patient is ready, we're going ahead with it."

He moved one of the sterile trolleys to the side of the operating table. He continued on. "I'm actually glad you're here, I need you to find Dr. Owens and let her know that in her current condition I've decided she will not be participating in the surgery today. You can let her know she's to go home early and rest up for tomorrow."

AJ stared in shock at his friend. Even if something really bothered Micah, he would never let it affect his decisions at work.

"Micah . . . why haven't you talked to Emily about this?"

Micah just shrugged his shoulders, still not looking up. "Cassandra informed me that she saw Emily vomiting in the women's bathroom. I can't take any chances that will jeopardize this surgery."

AJ raised his eyebrows, "And you believe Cassandra at face value without confirming that with Emily?"

Micah's hands shook for a second, then they calmed. "I'm not letting _anything _jeopardize this surgery," he repeated bitterly. He raised his eyes and AJ briefly saw the pain there before it slipped away into an emotionless gaze.

This made AJ finally get to what he wanted to talk to Micah about in the first place. "Listen, Micah about that . . . I think you need to know after you left–

"No." Micah cut off AJ.

"What? But, Micah–

"I said I don't want to hear it! Remember that big favor you owe me? Well this is it. I need you to leave this alone until I'm done surgery. I don't care what you saw after I left . . . I know what I saw in the moment and no matter what Emily did after I could not miss the fact that her arms were around – his – neck and she was enjoying it! I just can't be distracted for this surgery . . . just please tell her okay? You can tell me whatever you want later tonight . . . we'll have drinks. But right now I just need to push all thoughts of that disgusting image out of my _head."_

AJ just stared in stunned silence. Then he did the only thing he could do . . . he did what his friend asked him.

"Okay, Micah."

Micah sighed and said, "Thank you."

AJ slowly walked out of the OR as Cassandra walked in. She nodded at him and AJ let out an angry sigh at the injustice of it all.

Cassandra just stared at him in shock as he left the suite.

"Holy, what's his problem?" she asked turning towards Micah.

Micah's eyes focused on her like laser beams, asking her not to press it. "Let's just focus on the surgery, shall we, Dr. Kopelson?"

Cassandra nodded, then when Micah turned away, let a coy smile play on her lips.

_Definitely something off about Micah today . . . and I think I kind of like it!_

Micah and Cassandra worked in tandem as the surgery started to go under way. Luckily for this procedure they didn't need to put the patient under and were in a special suite so they could use X-ray at any time to verify the position of the stent.

The procedure went off without a hitch and Micah nodded at Cassandra as they finished up and Cassandra smiled back at him. She started to feel that itch in the back of her neck when she knew she wanted something . . . and this time it was Micah in her sights.

* * *

_Meanwhile . . ._

AJ had just left the OR suites when he saw Emily puffing and huffing coming down the hall. When she spotted him, relief and anxiety washed over her face as she ran up to him.

"AJ . . . I mean Dr. Aquino . . . I really . . . need to speak . . . to you." She started wheezing, she was so out of breath.

Dr. Aquino looked on in compassion. "Of course, Dr. Owens, you want to head to the roof . . ." He trailed off at the look of horror on Emily's face at the thought of more stairs.

"Or we could go to your office?" he tried again.

Emily smiled gratefully and they headed back the way she had come.

When they got inside and closed the door, Emily started blurting out "How much did you-" at the same time AJ said, "Micah's taken you off the surgery."

Shock went through Emily's body. "What? Why would he . . . you didn't tell him, did you?"

AJ shook his head. "Look Emily, I didn't get a chance to tell Micah . . . what I saw. He just thinks you're still too under the weather to be in surgery and wants you to go home."

Emily was getting angry. "That's crazy, why wouldn't he talk to me first?"

AJ lamely shrugged his shoulders. "Something about Cassandra hearing you throwing up in the bathroom? Listen . . . I don't really want to get too much into it, I'm just the messenger."

Emily started going numb as the realization she wouldn't be participating in the surgery sunk in.

_I can't believe Micah would do that . . . and Cassandra lying about me? I feel just utterly . . . betrayed._

"I think I'm going to go now . . ." she quietly said as she started to walk out the door.

AJ grimaced, he wished he could tell her more, but it really wasn't his place. Besides, once he told Micah the rest of what he saw tonight after drinks, he was sure that they could work this out.

"Yeah I think that's for the best. Go home, get some rest . . ."

Emily glared daggers at AJ. "I'm not going home. I still have patients to look after including the person who gave me an allergic reaction and a sick man that might be suffering from parasites. I'm not going _home."_

She turned and started walking angrily down the hall, almost tripping over a stray IV pole that she forcefully shoved aside.

AJ looked on in admiration as he watched her walk away.

_Now that's the type of woman who makes a great doctor, _he said to himself.

If he didn't have his sights set on Dr. Bandari he might even have considered swooping in on this one. But of course there was also the fact she was Micah's girl and you never break the bro's code – don't mess with another dude's woman.

He chuckled to himself. He would have to try to knock some sense into Micah tonight at the bar . . . he could not let this one get away.


	9. Recovery

**Author's Note: So sorry for the long hiatus guys. Just want you to know that I'm still feeling the love for these characters and wanting to finish their story. I only have a couple more chapters to go so please follow me so you can get updates on the new chapters. As always, thanks for all the great feedback it's really made me enjoy writing again!**

Tyra burst through the locker-room doors, a jubilant smile on her face.

"That was just . . . kick ass!" She started doing a victory fist-pump dance.

"How did your surgery go, Ems?"

Emily took a small swallow, "Well – "

"I know, right? _So_ good. Though I have to say that Micah seemed a little . . . off. He just had his whole 'let's just stick to business' attitude the whole time." Tyra gave a little shrug and when Emily didn't say anything barrelled on.

"You should have seen me though! After I showed Micah that I was serious and confident he pretty much let me do the entire case on my own! Can you believe it?" She grinned from ear to ear.

Finally coming down from her surgery high, Tyra started to notice Emily wasn't saying anything.

"Anyways . . . how'd it go? Were the sparks flying between you and Dr. Barnes? Though with Cassandra in the same room it kind of dampens the mood . . ."

Tyra trailed off as she saw the look on Emily's face. It was the look that usually occurred before she started on a Will rant. But that was in the past.

Emily put both hands on her head in frustration and let out a long sigh. She felt like screaming at the end of this crazy day! She still hadn't quite processed everything that had happened.

"Well I could tell you about the _ridiculousness _that is my life right now, or I could watch you do another victory lap around the room," she said scathingly.

Tyra's mouth dropped open in shock.

Emily saw the look on Tyra's face and quickly apologized.

"Sorry hon, but you will not believe what has happened to me in the last 24 hours!"

Tyra looked skeptical, "You mean minus the whole allergic reaction scene this morning?"

Emily raised her eyebrows.

Tyra mouth dropped a second time as she waited for Emily to continue.

Emily forced a happy grin then rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"Well to sum it up in as little time as possible . . . One: Will kissed me; Two: I kissed him back . . ."

Tyra's eyes widened. "Ems . . . "

"Only for like five seconds though! Anyways where was I - oh yeah. Three: AJ saw us through my office window.

"No!" Tyra shouted.

"Yes! Though thankfully I'm pretty sure he saw me push Will away. But the WORST part is (and this part I can only speculate on) I think he told Micah! Somehow Micah magically changed his mind thinking I'm too "unwell" to perform the surgery and ended up giving it to Cassandra!"

Tyra's whole stance changed into "protect my best friend from the two-faced bitch" mode.

"That little . . . " Tyra swore as she let out a stream of expletives that made Emily blush.

"I mean really, how dare she? Or better yet, how dare Micah! Mr. 'I won't let my personal feelings affect my work' guy. I think we need to take this to Bandari . . . imagine the look on her face when she sees her star attending is messing around with her OR, not keeping his integrity . . . and . . . and . . . what?"

Emily couldn't help it, she stifled a laugh.

Tyra stared in shock. "I can't believe you of all people can find humor in this situation. We need to take action! We need to strategize our plan of attack! We need to . . . oh my god, will you stop!"

Emily was holding onto her sides by this point she was laughing so hard. She looked up at Tyra, tears in the corners of her eyes.

"I mean . . . really. What kind of doctors are we that we -_she unsuccessfully tried to hold back a laugh- _are planning revenge schemes against our arch nemesis? This is so . . . highschool! I can't believe he . . . oh my god . . . Micah!

This time Emily did let out a scream of frustration as his name touched her lips, all the laughter dying from her voice.

Tyra let Emily rage for a moment and when her breathing slowed, simply opened her arms and brought Emily in for hug.

Emily gratefully accepted the hug then pulled back and sighed. "I mean . . . what else is there to say? I made a poor split second decision . . . but to have the guy I'm starting to fall for do that to me no matter how much I was wrong to kiss Will . . ."

"Earth to Emily? Time to not be so hard on yourself. Think about it – number one: Will is hot. Number two: you've been in love with him for four years. Give yourself some slack! The body betrays us sometimes but I think the big point is that _you pushed him away_. I think it's pretty clear that you are not hung up on him anymore because you have feelings for someone else. Micah."

At the sound of his name Emily just put her head in her hands.

"Oh my god . . . I have no idea what I'm going to say to him. I feel like I'm on an emotional rollercoaster and I'm going from hating his guts that he would do something without talking to me . . . back to feeling guilty for returning Will's kiss. What am I going to do?"

Tyra opened her arms and gave Emily an even bigger hug. She kissed the side of her head and pushed Emily away at arm's length.

Looking straight into her eyes she said, "The best thing to do right now? Come home with me and we'll order a pizza and get drunk off of the cheapest beer possible because lord knows I can afford at least that!"

They both started laughing.

Tyra offered Emily her arm. "Honey, I promise you we'll get to the bottom of all this craziness. Micah just made the hugest mistake of his life."

_Funny, that's what I thought after seeing AJ in the window . . . biggest mistake of my life._

Emily just gave a small nod and took Tyra's offered arm. Micah would have to wait until she had a few things cleared up in her mind. She wasn't quite ready to face him yet.

. . .

_Meanwhile . . ._

Micah stomped his feet just outside the door to the bar. He really didn't want to be here but AJ didn't take no for an answer easily.

As he was greeted by the cozy warmth of the pub, he did a quick scan for his buddy.

There were the usual people. Micah nodded to a few interns he couldn't for the life remember their names. Then his eyes fell on . . . Cassandra.

She casually waved at him.

"Dr Barnes! Let me buy you a drink!" She smiled shyly, "I mean . . . it's the least I can do after we rocked that surgery."

Micah sighed . . . he didn't know if he could handle Cassandra's ass kissing right now, but he figured the sooner he indulged her the sooner he could be rid of her. He gave her a small smile.

"Sure Dr. Kopelson, I appreciate it. I'm meeting up with Dr. Aquino . . . so I don't know how long I can chat . . ."

Cassandra grinned wickedly, "Well . . . I'm actually surprised but I think he and Dr. Bandari are around the corner and their conversation seems pretty . . . intense."

Micah was pissed. Especially after AJ told him he was "handling it". He managed a mildly puzzled look.

"Really? I thought Dr. Bandari was on vacation with her husband."

Cassandra just shrugged. "Well I guess there's trouble in paradise, or she's so addicted to her work one day away was too much."

Micah just gave a non-committal "Hmmm . . ." and avoided her eyes.

Cassandra got the hint and changed the subject.

"So about that drink . . . you like Guinness, right?"

Micah was surprised that she knew that.

"Uh . . . sure. That sounds good." He sat down next to Cassandra on the barstool, anxiously awaiting the beer that couldn't come soon enough.

They made small chit chat about the case and all the things that had gone well when finally Micah's drink arrived. He gratefully took a huge swig when Cassandra blurted out –

"So what's the deal with you and Emily?"

Micah choked on his drink. Luckily he still had his glass to his lips and the beer sprayed back into the mug. Wiping his mouth he set it back on the bar. He gave her a wary glance.

"Uh . . . I'd rather not talk about it."

Cassandra was eyeing him critically. Considering how much she hated Emily right now, she was surprisingly . . . sympathetic to what Micah was going through.

"No worries Dr. Barnes . . . I only asked because Emily seemed to be a shoo-in for that surgery and I know you two have gotten close lately . . . did something happen?"

_Aw, crap. I REALLY don't want to talk about this right now, especially with Kopelson. _Micah downed his beer in record time and slammed it back on the bar. Standing up he turned towards her.

"It's been a pleasure as always Dr. Kopelson, but I really need to talk to Dr. Aquino . . ."

Cassandra who at least caught on quickly was fast to apologize.

"I'm so sorry Dr. Barnes . . . I knew something was up and I was just hoping to be there in case you wanted to talk about it. I understand if you have to go, but I just think you should know something. Something about Will and Emily.

Micah winced involuntarily. Yet he couldn't walk away, he had to hear this.

Cassandra continued on in a soft voice. "Will broke up with me . . . because he has feelings for Emily. And I just think that you should be careful before jumping into anything with her. I mean the girl has been in love with him for the past four years . . . that's not something you can just forget about."

Micah turned away from her so she couldn't see the pain in his eyes.

Cassandra reached out and touched his shoulder.

"Micah . . . just be careful. I don't want to see any more people get hurt . . . like me."

Micah looked back at Cassandra for a moment and saw the same turmoil in his eyes mirrored in hers.

He said the only thing he could think of to say.

"Thanks . . . but I think it's too late for that."

Cassandra looked on with a little too much understanding as Micah walked away in search of his friend. Little did he know AJ and Gina had already left the bar . . . together.


End file.
